Former Waltham CPA convicted of tax fraud

Staff reports

Wednesday

Nov 15, 2017 at 1:04 PMNov 15, 2017 at 1:32 PM

A federal jury in Boston convicted a former Waltham accountant this week on multiple counts of tax fraud and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service, according to an announcement by the Internal Revenue Service.

Greg Takesian, 53, of Miami, Florida, was convicted Tuesday, Nov. 14, of four counts of filing false tax returns and one count of attempting to obstruct and impede the IRS.

He was arrested last October in Miami and ordered to report to Boston to face the charges.

Over four days, the jury heard about Takesian’s lavish lifestyle and how he spent nearly a million dollars taken from Takesian & Company, a tax consulting firm owned by his father, on his wife and girlfriend. While Takesian ran the day-to-day business, he did not have an ownership stake in the company

In total, according to the IRS, Takesian gave his wife more than $500,000 from the company bank account, and his girlfriend more than $200,000 of company funds. He also spent money on Caribbean cruises, expensive clothing and nightclubs.

Between 2008 and 2011, Takesian & Company received more than $2 million for tax and consulting services from At Home VNA, a home health company located in Waltham.

After learning of the federal investigation, Takesian filed false corporate and personal amended returns in an effort to cover up the nearly $1 million of unreported income, the IRS stated.

Takesian will return to court on Feb. 3, 2018, for sentencing. He faces a sentence of no greater than three years in prison, one year of supervised release, and a fine of $100,000 on each count.

According to the initial complaint, Takesian had check-writing authority and took out several corporate credit cards in his own name, which he allowed his wife and others to use to make more than $50,000 in purchases for non-business expenses such as cruises, jewelry, intimate women's apparel, makeup, iTunes, and Home Shopping Network items. Takesian also reportedly used company funds to pay the rent on his personal residence.